Dunwoody trail lawsuit adds 23 more plaintiffs

A pair of Dunwoody residents who’ve taken the city to court over plans to build a 12-foot-wide concrete trail in Brook Run Park have added 23 additional plaintiffs to their lawsuit.

The new plaintiffs were announced in court Jan. 31 as the lawyer representing Beverly Armento and Rebecca More began to present their case in DeKalb County Superior Court . The plaintiffs won a temporary court order that has held up the start of trail construction. They now are asking Superior Court Judge Tangela Barrie to permanently stop the project.

The plaintiffs live in 18 homes in the Lakeview Oaks subdivision, which abuts the western edge of Brook Run Park. They argue the proposed trail will require unnecessarily the cutting of more than 300 trees and create drainage problems in the area.

The lawyer representing Beverly Armento and Rebecca More and the 23 other residents showed a photo of flooding in the Lakeview Oaks subdivision as a result of Wednesday’s storms.

Armento took the photo in the backyard of Herb and Doris Williams’ house on Wednesday afternoon.

Brian Wellington, a hydrology expert with NewField Consultants, was the key witness in the first day of the two-day hearing.

Wellington testified that the city’s hydrology report was flawed in four key areas and that the city’s plans for the trail violate its own storm water management ordinances.

Wellington testified that the report is based on the wrong pre-development conditions, it uses an imaginary drainage basin, it does not include a downstream analysis and ignores Phase 2 of the trail project in the park, which Wellington said would further increase flooding.

Former Dunwoody City Council Member Danny Ross testified that during his time on the council, none of the plans for Brook Run envisioned the type of 12-foot impervious concrete trail the city now wants to build through the forest.

Testimony resumes Friday at 9 a.m. in Courtroom 5-C of the DeKalb County Courthouse